Books on the Bosque to host 'Hungry Shoes' authors on Dec. 10

AT BOOKS ON THE BOSQUE

Sue Boggio and Mare Pearl will talk about their new novel “Hungry Shoes” at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 10, at Books on the Bosque. The book is about Maddie and Grace, who meet in an adolescent psychiatric unit in Albuquerque. After suffering years of neglect and abuse, the teenagers seek an understanding of their dysfunction past. They learn to possess new-found inner strength to pursue a path forward with clarity and hope.

The authors know whereof they write. Boggio, an Albuquerque resident, was a registered nurse and program manager at the University of New Mexico’s Children and Adolescent Hospital in the 1980s and ’90s. In that same period at the same hospital, Pearl, a resident of Bosque Farms, was a mental health technician. The novel is part of UNM Press’ Lynn and Lynda Miller Southwest Fiction Series.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, an award-winning Rio Rancho author of books for young readers, will read from and talk about her new book “Small Shoes, Great Strides: How Three Brave Girls Opened Doors to School Equality” noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at Books on the Bosque. The book is about three Black first-graders, escorted by U.S. Marshals and berated by an angry crowd, entering McDonough 19 Elementary School in New Orleans. Leona Tate, Gail Etienne and Tessie Prevost were the first Black students to desegregate a previously all-white public school in Louisiana. The date was Nov. 14, 1960. Ten minutes after they walked in, a fourth Black first-grader entered another previously all-white school in New Orleans. The author is a retired youth services librarian.

The bookstore is hosting meetings of three book clubs. At 11 a.m and 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, members of the Adult General Fiction Book Club will discuss “The Wishing Game” by Meg Shaffer. … At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, the Adult Romance Book Club will chat about “The Christmas Wager” by Holly Cassidy. … And at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, members of the Adult Horror Book Club will talk about “Never Whistle at Night,” an Indigenous dark fiction anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

Books on the Bosque is located at 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane NW.

Books on the Bosque to host 'Hungry Shoes' authors on Dec. 10

AT COLLECTED WORKS IN SANTA FE

Santa Fe author/writing coach/painter Natalie Goldberg and Roshi Joan Halifax, an author and founder/head teacher of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, will discuss their latest works at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12.

Goldberg’s is “Writing Down the Bones Deck: 60 Cards to Free the Writer Within.” Her 1986 book “Writing Down the Bones” has sold over one million copies and has been translated into 14 languages.

Halifax’s latest work is titled “In a Moment In a Breath: A Contemplative Card Deck.”

At 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, Collected Works is hosting its 15th annual Holiday Players reading holiday-themed books. Among the readers this year are Ali McGraw, Arthur Sze, Natachee Momaday Gray, Alfredo Celedón Luján and Andre Bruce.

The bookstore is located at 202 Galisteo St., Santa Fe.

POETRY READING IN TAOS

Three years ago poets Eileen Wiard, Maria Teresa Garcia and Joy Jacobson signed up to take an online class called Courage in Poetry with Catherine Strisik. At 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10, at SOMOS Taos Bookshop, the three will read some of the poems they’ve written that grew out of that class. Wiard has done a writing residency at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos and has also written a play, a novel, many essays and songs. Garcia has written fiction and nonfiction, and has work in the “New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023.” Jacobson has attended the Vermont Studio Center, had residencies at MacDowell and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation.

The bookshop is at 108 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos.

AT TREASURE HOUSE IN OLD TOWN

The bookstore hosts two authors this week. Dale A. Garratt signs copies of his new novel “The Peace Road: A High Stakes Geopolitical Thriller” 1:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10. … Albuquerque’s Joe Badal signs his most recent mystery-thriller “Everything to Lose” from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15.

Treasure House Books & Gifts is at 2012 S. Plaza St. NW, Old Town.

— Compiled by David Steinberg/For the Journal